A Teacher's Tale is a case study of national and local significance. It explains how test-driven school reform turned John Thompson's run-of-the-mill inner-city school into the type of brutal urban school that defies improvement. It draws upon cognitive and social science to explain why data-driven school improvement efforts are doomed. It explains how failed schools are the legacy of extreme concentrations of generational poverty and intense trauma suffered by children. He makes the case for full-service community schools that bring the full diversity of communities into segregated schools, and that nurture trusting, even loving, relationships.